Honors & Awards
Grants, fellowships, awards and other honors that recognize and support innovative research and world-class teaching.
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Topic
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Detwiler recognized among Food Safety Set: ‘The people who have shaped’ food safety
Professor Darin Detwiler, who also serves as Assistant Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs for the College of Professional Studies, was recently recognized in Quality Assurance Magazine as a member of The Food Safety Set, one of twenty-one individuals who have had a pronounced impact on the development of food safety practices in the past 30 years, since the 1992 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. Detwiler was featured on the cover of the January-February 2023 issue, among other notables. Find the full Food Safety Set at Quality Assurance Magazine.
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Rouhanifard receives CMBE Rising Star Award for bioengineering work
“Assistant Professor Sara Rouhanifard was selected to receive a 2023 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Rising Star Award for her outstanding impact on the field of cellular and molecular bioengineering.”
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Oakes receives ASME 2023 Y.C. Fung Early Career Award for work on respiratory mechanics
“Assistant Professor Jessica Oakes was selected as the 2023 Y.C. Fung Early Career Award Medalist for outstanding work in respiratory mechanics that has significantly advanced the understanding of asthma, smoking and inhalable drug delivery, and for strong advocacy in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.”
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Restuccia receives Young Investigator Award for work increasing the performance of wireless systems
“Francesco Restuccia, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and member of Northeastern’s Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things and the Roux Institute received, in December of 2022, an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program Award to examine the algorithmic foundations and theoretical performance bounds of the dynamic, data-driven wireless systems of the future.”
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Levendis made associate fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
“Yiannis Levendis, Distinguished Professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, was selected as a member of the Class of 2023 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Associate Fellows for his technical contributions to fuel combustion physics, chemistry, and diagnostics, and for educating engineering students in the fields of gas turbine combustion and air pollution.”
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Wireless internet of things research leads to first prize at IEEE Advanced Air Mobility challenge
“A team of researchers with the Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things (WIoT) consisting of computer engineering students Matteo Bordin, PhD’26, and Pietro Brach Del Prever, PhD’27, and led by electrical and computer engineering research assistant professor Salvatore D’Oro, won first prize at the IEEE Advanced Air Mobility – Concepts Innovation Challenge, a challenge to engage undergraduate and graduate students across the world in developing novel concepts in unmanned air transportation.”
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The door doesn’t close on learning: Dean Hazel Sive receives honorary doctorate
Dean of the College of Science and professor of biology Hazel Sive was awarded an honorary doctorate of engineering from her alma mater, the University of the Witwatersrand (lovingly known as “Wits”) earlier this month, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Sive began her scientific career at Wits when a professor, Robin Crewe, gave her a unique assignment.
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Vincent Harris elected as NAI Fellow for ‘facilitating outstanding inventions’
“Vincent Harris, University Distinguished and William Lincoln Smith Professor, electrical and computer engineering, has been named a 2022 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Harris was chosen for selection for ‘having demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.'”
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Tiwari receives Editorial Excellence Award for ‘exceptional contributions’
Associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, Devesh Tiwari has received the Editorial Excellence Award from the IEEE journal Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS). The award “recognizes exceptional contributions by members of the TPDS editorial board,” according to their website. Read more about Tiwari’s award at the College of Engineering.
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Trailblazer award to engineer our way to smarter gut health
“Researchers at the College of Engineering have won a Trailblazer Award from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) for their interdisciplinary work to cure or improve diseases by modulating microbial metabolism in the gut. The funding provides $628,000 for the team’s research over three years.”
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Yanzhi Wang receives Distinguished Industrial Leader Award
“Associate Professor Yanzhi Wang received the Asia Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association (APSIPA) Distinguished Industrial Leader award at the APSIPA Annual Summit and Conference 2022 held in November 2022.”
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Purnima Ratilal-Makris wins $1.28 million NSF grant for hydrophone array
“Professor Purnima Ratilal-Makris was awarded a $1.28M National Science Foundation grant for “Large-aperture 160-element coherent hydrophone array system upgrades and operational readiness testing for real-time continental-shelf scale ocean acoustic monitoring.” Research on the array system will be conducted in her Laboratory for Ocean Acoustics and Ecosystem Sensing.”
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Professor Yi Zheng receives Massachusetts recognition for sustainability and clean technology
“Professor Yi Zheng was recognized by the Massachusetts House of Representatives for his ‘Outstanding Contributions to Sustainability and Clean Technology.’ Zheng is devoted to clean energy education, research and business, to provide climate-friendly, energy-saving solutions and reduce carbon emissions globally.”
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Adaptable, reusable tooling for lightweight automotive components
“Associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering Hongli (Julie) Zhu was awarded a $220,000 Department of Energy grant, in collaboration with the University of Delaware, for the manufacturing of lightweight automotive components. The Zhu Lab will synthesize functional thermal conductive material as filler in the composite. In her lab, thermally conductive material will be prepared and added to thermoset resin to increase thermal conductivity and improve curing kinetics of resin during tool manufacturing.”
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Wearable gas sensor for disease detection
“Associate Professor Hongli (Julie) Zhu, in collaboration with Vox Biomedical, LLC, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was awarded a $154,000 grant for biosensors. Zhu ‘seek[s] to translate detection of… [volatile organic compound] signatures to a more robust and standardized platform, readily adaptable for the identification of a variety of human diseases with distinct pathophysiologies.'”
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Karim elected to board of Strategic Management Society
Professor of entrepreneurship and innovation, Samina Karim, in Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, has been elected to a director-at-large position in the Strategic Management Society. The society publishes three academic journals, hosts several conferences each year, and funds “projects to advance the field of strategic management,” according to their website. Karim will serve a three-year term, from 2023-2025.
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Sock puppets recite Russian bots in performance piece
“Northeastern Art + Design professors Derek Curry and Jennifer Gradecki have been selected as one of five artist groups to participate in the MediaFutures support program,” writes the College of Arts, Media and Design, “part of the European Commisssion’s S+T+ARTS (Science +Technology + Arts) program for social and technical innovation. The program provides €25,000 for the initial build phase and more for a final exhibition. …Curry and Gradecki’s project, Sock Puppet Theater, is a performance of animatronic sock puppets speaking the words of social media posts by accounts known to be fake and engaging in disinformation campaigns.”
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Laura Lewis elevated to IEEE Fellow for ‘magneto-functional materials’ research
“Distinguished University and Cabot Professor Laura Lewis was elevated to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow for contributions to the design of magneto-functional materials. IEEE Fellow is a distinction reserved for select IEEE members whose extraordinary accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest are deemed fitting of this prestigious grade elevation and is awarded to less than 0.1% of voting members annually.”
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Maheswaran appointed director of Engineering and Architectural Division, Athens Institute for Education and Research
“Teaching Professor Bala Maheswaran was appointed as the Director of the Engineering and Architectural Division (EAD) of the Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER). The EAD includes Architecture, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Transportation Engineering Units, with leaders from various international institutes leading each unit. The division organizes multiple conferences in Athens, Greece, each year in multiple fields.”
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Michele Polese receives 2022 ISSNAF Young Investigator Award for Computer Science
“Principal Research Scientist Michele Polese received the Mario Gerla award for research in computer science at the Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation (ISSNAF) Young Investigators Award ceremony. Polese designs and optimizes next-generation wireless spectrum systems.”
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Arthur Coury wins ACS Bioelastomer Award
“University Distinguished Professor Art Coury has won the American Chemical Society Rubber Division’s Bioelastomer Award for 2023, which honors significant contributions to the advancement of biomaterials in the field of rubber science and technology.”
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Ruobing Bai receives 2022 EML Young Investigator Award
“Assistant Professor Ruobing Bai is a recipient of the 2022 Extreme Mechanics Letters (EML) Young Investigator Award for his paper ‘Temperature-modulated photomechanical actuation of photoactive liquid crystal elastomers.’ The EML Young Investigator Award honors the best young researchers who have published their highly impactful papers in the EML journal.”
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Eduardo Sontag wins IFAC Technical Committee Award
“University Distinguished Professor Eduardo Sontag received the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Technical Committee Award on Non-Linear Control Systems, which is described as the ‘highest distinction on nonlinear control systems research.'”
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Josep Jornet is 2022 IEEE WTC Outstanding Young Researcher
“Associate Professor Josep Jornet received the 2022 IEEE WTC Outstanding Young Researcher Award for his pioneering contributions to the field of terahertz communications. Jornet’s contributions range from terahertz array architectures and propagation channel models to physical and link layer solutions for ultra-broadband and ultra-directional networks operating at frequencies above 100 GHz. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and multiple patents.”
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Therese Pirozzi receives grant for ‘Active Brain, Healthy Brain Exercise Program’
“Therese Pirozzi, associate professor in Bouvé College’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, is a practicing speech-language pathologist with a focus on language and health literacy of low-income families, neuroplasticity of the brain, and the effects of brain injury on survivors and their families. Over the summer, she received a grant for the ‘Active Brain, Healthy Brain Exercise Program’ from the Community Endowment of Lexington—an endowed fund of the Foundation for MetroWest.”
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Yongmin Liu elected 2023 Fellow Member of Optica for research in nanophotonics
“Associate Professor Yongmin Liu was elected as a 2023 Fellow Member of Optica. Fellow membership in Optica is limited to no more than ten percent of the membership and is reserved for members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics. Liu is being honored specifically for significant contributions to the fundamental and application of nanophotonics, particularly plasmonics and photonic metamaterials.”
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Northeastern researchers win ‘Invented Here!’ contest
“This year, the Center for Research Innovation is excited to share that multiple Northeastern researchers have been honored in the annual Invented Here! contest, held by the Boston Patent Law Association (BPLA). Established in 2010 by the BPLA, the Invented Here! contest is meant to celebrate local New England inventors, from their inventions to their own stories. Over 49 inventions and over 170 inventors have been recognized since 2010. These inventors are key to furthering innovation not only in our region, but across the world.”